Sunday, July 19, 2009

Walter Cronkite Story

With the passing of Walter Cronkite I felt compelled to tell my only interaction with him a couple of years ago. We went on vacation in Orlando to go to Universal Studios. It is a couple of hours north of us, so is an easy weekend trip. We had spent the weekend at a four star hotel, the Omni Hotel I believe, close to the amusement park. We went to the park, got room service, the whole deal. Unfortunately our clothes had gotten completely soaked at Universal Studios. We didn't expect that at all and I couldn't put them in our regular suitcase. So I got a brilliant idea to put everything in a trash bag, which in retrospect I don't remember where it had come from. So here we are walking through a luxurious four star hotel dragging a large bulging trash bag with our luggage. There was a big conference going on so there were people going through with suits as we were leaving. Just as we had made it to the door of the hotel the trash bag burst wide open with wet clothes going all over the floor. I was so embarrassed and I can tell my husband was already upset with my idea for getting the clothes to the car. We looked up and there was an aging Walter Cronkite looking down at us clear up our clothes the best we could. He asked, "need some help with that?" I remember I said "no" or "no thanks". He walked off and we were speechless. I don't think my husband forgave me. We looked and he was the main speaker at the event going on at the Omni. Well, after that we've been picky about the luggage we take with us.